5,740,422. United States Patent 119] Apr. 14, 1998 / DUOODDDDDDDD. [45] Date of Patent: [11] Patent Number: Foltz et a1. [73] Assignee: L 26

Transcription

1 United States Patent 119] Fotz et a1. USOO A [11] Patent Number: [45] Date of Patent: 5,740,422 Apr. 14, 1998 [54] METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR RESOURCE MANAGEMENT FOR A LAN SERVER ENTERPRISE [75] Inventors: Richard Campbe Fotz. Round Rock; Wiiam Harod Genger. Austin; Joseph Christopher Lucas, J 1:. Round Rock; John Vincent Meegan. Austin; 'roy Gary Reish. Austin; James Michae Roette, Jr.. Austin. a of Tex. [73] Assignee: [21] App. No.: 534,762 [22] Fied: Sep. 27, 1995 Internationa Business Machine Corporation. Armonk. N.Y. [51] Int. C G06F 12/00 [52] US. C /609; 395/ [58] Fied Of Search / / [56] References Cited U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS Primary Examiner-Eric Coeman Attorney, Agent, or Firm-David A. Mims. Jr. [57] ABSTRACT 5,432,934 7/1995 Levin / /1996 Shockey /3253 of work msomccs' A method and architecture for the administration of arge ces in an Open System Foundation/Distributed Computing Environment (OSF/DCE). The architecture organizes the Ce Directory Service (CDS) name space of the OSF/DCE to aow a network administrator to easiy determine net work resources under their contro. and work with a subset of the network resources. The OSF/DCE name space is organized as resource reams having a CDS component and a registry component. The CD8 component of the resource reams has a?xed portion containing at east two roots describing sub-systems and ream resources (e.g.. printer. seria devices. etc). The CD5 component aso contains individua reams de?ned directy beow the?xed portions. The registry component has a root consisting of the security. group and ream portions. Individua reams are de?ned as directories beow the root. The resuting resource manager which aows the OSF/DCE name space to be organized/ partitioned into separate. administrabe name spaces which aows easy determination as to what resources are con troed by the administrator. and easiy administrabe subsets 5,572,673 11/1996 Shurts /186 5,579,478 11/1996 Heiserman / Caims, 3 Drawing Sheets ADAPTER a_o 10 L 26 CPU,2 RAM,4 CONTROLLER,6 DODDDGDODODD nuuuuauuuuuu / DUOODDDDDDDD k 2 DISKETTE DRIVE 24

2 US. Patent Apr. 14, 1998 Sheet 1 of 3 5,740,422 ADAPTER L 26 CPU 12 RAM 14 CONTROLLER 16 =# ' nuuunuuuunuu uuuuuunuunnn 22 uuuuuuunuuun L 2 DISKETI'E DRIVE 21 FIG. 1

3 US. Patent Apr. 14, 1998 Sheet 2 of 3 5,740,422 _ r 1 _..L I /.:/(CDS root) [30? g2 (admin de?ned subsys (d) resources user_namespace_dir (d) ---L user_namespac'e_soft_ink(st) 1: i 5.0 i reams (d) reams (d) <3 E :33 5 5g 5 in E <reaimname> <other <reaimname> <otherreamnames> reamnames> (d) (d) (d) remain_sync(o) rea m_chiid_ ist(o) pubiic_apps (d) Hes 4.0 : E : : E13 : : 6_ servers (d) 1 <app6>o(0) E wires; (0) 2 z 1 _ :. <sféver> (0) printers (d) seriai_devices (d) _ Notation:, 1, i I _ : (d) - directory H335; (0) <aagz> (o) 0) - object - (SI) soft ink < > - denotes a named (by admin) entity of the type specified FIG. 2

4 US. Patent Apr. 14, 1998 Sheet 3 0f 3 5,740,422 o "P E33 <rea mn me> (d) 90 i <other reaimnames> (d) ADMiNS PRT_OP SRV_OP COM OP USERS (a group objects) 9_2 9-4; ge 120 Notation: (d) (i) < > - d.w.d."ne CrWwO 9 O iotnnom W a S n a m 9 Au (by admin) entity of the type specified F 3

5 1 METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR RESOURCE MANAGEMENT FOR A LAN SERVER ENTERPRISE FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention reates to data processing systems. and more particuary to the management of resources in a distributed computing environment. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The increased use of computers in business and at home. due to reduced costs and increased computer iteracy. has ed to an increased demand for access between computer sys tems. Portabe computers aow users to move them freey about the word but these users continue to require constant access to their host appications.?es. databases and eec tronic mai via connections to other computer systems. New networks of computers require more access to more and more disparate networks and reated systems. These increas ing demands have produced the present focus on Distributed Computer Systems and methods to interoperate these sys tems. This focus on interoperabiity is on deveoping means for easy access from one computing system to another. regardess of whether the two systems have different naming systems. different operating systems. diferent?e systems. diferent databases. etc. with minima cost of modifying any system to interoperate with another. Major strides in system interoperabiity has been achieved using standards promugated by the Open Software Foundation/Distributed Computing Environment ( OSF is a trademark of Open Software Foundation. Inc.). In the Distributed Computing Environment (DCE). various soft ware components my be ocated on more than one physica system. such as a number of computers in a distributed data processing system. Exampes of such services incude security. directory. and time services. These various com ponents use each other s services by making interna cas to one another (in the form of messages sent from one object to another object) as a way of satisfying a request for a particuar service. For exampe. when an appication invokes a security component requesting the addition of a new user to the security registry database. the message requesting an addition of a new user resuts in other messages being made to other parts of the security component to check that the component making this request is authorized to add users to the database. which in turn uses a remote procedure ca?kpc) component to transmit these requests to the appro priate service. Whie the current Open Software Foundation (OSF)/DCE impementation aows the connection of disparate data computing systems. a probem exists in the administration of arge ces with potentiay thousands of resources. As cur renty impemented. any DCE based distributed appication requires the presence of a DCE services in order to operate (e.g.. a or nothing). This incudes the Ce Directory Server. Security Server and Distributed Time Servers. Aso required are a the DCE runtirne support (Threads. Remote Proce dure Ca (RPC). Ce Directory Services (CD8) and Dis tributed Time Services (DTS) and Security. This require. ment causes instaation. con?guration and administrative probems. In addition. the product size is increased in terms of DASD and memory usage. One particuar probem with the current. a or nothing impementation. is the inabiity of a network administrator to determine what resources are under their contro. This is due in part to the ack of a hierarchica administration method. Network S administrators. under the current impementation. are unabe to work with a subset of resources (e.g.. printers. servers. seria devices. etc.). It is desirabe to have a DCE resource administration method and architecture which aows the network admin istrators to easiy determine what network resources are under their contro. and to work with a subset of network resources. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION This invention reates to a method and architecture for the administration of arge ces in an Open System Foundation} Distributed Computing Environment (OSFIDCE). The OSF/ DCE Ce Directory Services (CBS) is the ocation independent ookup faciity that enabes the sharing of network resources. This invention provides a data structure/ architecture for organizing the Ce Directory Service name space to aow a network administrator to easiy determine network resources under their contro. and to work with a subset of the network resources. The OSFIDCE name space is organized as resource reams having a CDS component and a registry component. Resource reams as used in this invention. is an architecture for organizing the CDS name space for LAN Server resources (e.g.. aiases. pubic appications. servers) and for controing access to these resources. The CD8 component of the resource ream has a fixed portion containing at east two roots describing sub systems and ream resources (e.g.. printer. seria devices. etc.). The CD8 component aso contains individua reams de?ned directy beow the?xed portion. The resource reams provide a hierarchica mode of administration in which administrators of a ream can administer resources in any sub-ream. The registry component has a root consisting of the security. group and ream portions. Individua reams are de?ned as directories beow the root. The invention provides a resource manager which aows the OSFIDCE name space to be organized/partitioned into separate administrabe name spaces. which aows easy detennination as to what resources are controed by the administrators. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. I is a bock diagram of a workstation operabe in a distributed computing environment where the invention may be practiced. FIG. 2 is a structura mode for the ce directory service component of the invention. FIG. 3 is a structura mode for the registry component of the invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS This invention provides a method and architecture for the administration of arge ces in a distributed computing environment (DCE). which aow the eficient sharing of various resources among different machines con?gured in a networking environment (e.g.. a ce in the OSFIDCE exicon). The invention provides for the administration of a subset of resources by providing a hierarchica administra tion method. The invention aows network administrators to determine What resources they contro by the use of the nove architecture and methods of this invention. The inven tion wi be described more competey in reference to the foowing drawings. With reference to FIG. 1. there is shown a workstation 10 in a distributed computing environment where this invention

6 3 may be practiced The workstation 10. contains a centra processing unit 12. and random access memory (RAM) 14. connected to a system bus 26. The workstation 10. has a device controer 16. attached to dispay device 18. and system bus 26 for viewing the processes executing on the workstation. Data entry is possibe using keyboard 20. mouse 22 or other computer readabe medium such as diskette drive 24. Data storage is provided by disk 28. which is attached to the system bus 26. A communication adapter 30. is provided for attachment of the computer to the distributed computing environment (not shown). Turning to FIG. 2. there is shown the structura mode for organizing the name space of an OSF/DCE Ce Directory Service. The CDS contains information about domain con troers de?ned within a ce. In addition. the CDS contains information about shared resource de?nitions (Aiases) and contros for synchronization of data from the CDS to domain controers. A ce within the OSF/DCE environment is partitioned into mutipe resource reams based on the struc ture shown in FIG. 2. A ream as used in this invention. is name space within a DCE environment dedicated to a particuar set of users/enterprise. Resource reams provide an architecture for organizing the DCE name space for speci?c resources (e.g.. aiases. pubic appications. server de?nitions) and for controing access to these resources. Resource reams have a Ce Directory Service (CDS). and a registry component. With refmence to FIG. 2. the CDS component 30 of the resource ream is shown. A?xed portion of the CDS resource ream name space contains two roots. The?rst root-.zsubsys/reams-provides for the description of any subsystem 32 and ream directories 34. The subsystem directory 32 is used to store LAN Server objects which are required to contro/maintain the ream architecture. The reams. 38. represent "N" more occur rences of instances of object 36 in directory 34. A?xed structure is de?ned beow each ream in the CDS name space. The server directory 42 contains an entry for each server de?ned in the ream. The domain_sync 40 is an optiona object which is created ony in reams which are synchronized with a different LAN Server domain. The dirsync (directory synchronization) process queries this object to determine the ist of updates which must be synchronized within the name space. The rearn_chid_ist 44 object contains the ist of reams which are directy beow this ream in the ogica ream hierarchy. A server object 46 is de?ned for every server in the ream and is ocated in the servers directory 42 of the ream name space. Each server object 46 contains the foowing attributes: +Server type +Transport protoco (i.e.. NEI BIOS. TCP/P. etc.) +Transport address +RPC binding information Aias objects and 72 are LAN Server de?ned resource de?nitions (aiases). created as CDS objects within the appropriate resource type container (e.g..?es. printers. seria_devices) of a ream. Aias resources de?nitions infor mation is stored as attributes of the object. The simpe name of the aias object is the LAN Server short name (e.g.. upper case and 8 character ength imit). Simpe names must be unique within the ream for aias de?nitions. The aias objects is not a DCE RPC. because the DCE acl_edit service wi not resove the physica resource de?ned by the aias object. Aiases are de?ned oca to a ream. thus precuding the use of short names aone to identify them. Unique identification is possibe ony by speci?cation of the ream name. One skied in the art wi appreciate that the 5,740, ream hierarchy is not directy re?ected in the directory structure in the CDS component. Instead. each individua ream directory in the subsystem portion of the name space contains an attribute that points to the ream's parent in the ream hierarchy. and the ream_chid_ist object 44 con tains the ist of the ream s immediate chidren in the ream hierarchy. Ream operations are greaty simpi?ed by not tighty couping the name space structure to the ogica ream hierarchy. Ream operations. such as move and deete. in a tighty couped arrangement require signi?cant ogic when the hierarchy is re?ected in the name space. Each individua ream directory in the subsys portion 32 of the name space has an attribute that contains the broadcast address for the ream. The address is used by LAN Servers to broadcast their presence and by cients to isten for server announcements. One skied in the art wi appreciate that an administrator can setup a separate name space 62 via CDS softinks. that are convenient for users to browse. For exampe. an administrator my want to organize the resource name space based on the physica ocation of the resources (e.g.. austin >Bdg 901-)Foor 7%Printers). The resut is a directory which is potentiay more intuitive to both the end user and the administrator. Returning to FIG. 2. the second root /.:/resource/ ream-aso contains a?xed directory structure de?ned beow the ream in the resources 48 portion of the name space. The reams. 52. represents N more occurrences of its sibing object 52 in directory 50. The?es directory 66 contains a the?e aiases de?ned in the ream. Attributes on the?es directory 66 maintain a ist of the?es aiases. Each entry in the ist contains the short name of the aias and information about the aias that is required on enumeration. This ist is used to improve the performance of enumeration and the performance of detmnining short name uniqueness. The printers directory 54 contains a the print aiases in the ream. Attributes on the printers directory 54 maintain a ist of the print aiases. Each entry in the ist contains the short name of the aias and information about the aias that is required on enumeration. This ist is used to improve the performance of enumeration and the performance of deter mining short name uniqueness. The seria_devices directory 70 contains a the seria devices in the ream. Attributes on the seria_devices directory 70 maintain a ist of the seria device aiases. Each entry in the ist contains the short name of the aias and information about the aias that is required on enumeration. The pubic_apps 58 directory contains a the pubic appications in the ream. Pubic appication de?nitions are created as CDS objects within the pubic_ apps 58 container of a ream. The simpe name of the apps object is the LAN Server short name (e.g.. Upper case and 8 character ength imit). Simpe names are unique with a ream for pubic_apps 58 de?nitions. Appication de?ni tions do not de?ne speci?c physica resources or resource paths and thus the appication is not a DCE RPC junction. Pubic appications are de?ned oca to a ream. The short name aone is insufficient to uniquey identity them and the ream name must be speci?ed. Turning now to FIG. 3. there is shown a structure for the registry component of the resource ream. The root of the ream name space in the registry is.:/sec/group/reams". The root represents a security junction 82. group directory 84 and a reams directory 86. As was the case with the Ce Directory Service (CDS). a reams in the registry compo nent are de?ned directy beow the ream s root. and are named within the constraints of vaid registry directory names. which are permitted to be up to 256 characters. A?xed structure consisting of six group objects is de?ned for each ream.

7 5 The ADMINS group 92. contains the user identi?cations (IDs) of a the LAN Server administrators in the ream. The ADMINS group 92. is used to contro access to the ream. and are the ony members of the ream who have adminis trator authority over the ream groups de?ned in the registry. The PR"_OP group 94 contains the user Ids of a the LAN Server print operators in the ream. The PRI OP group 94 is used to contro access to the print aiases in the ream. The SRV_OP group 96 contains the user IDs of a the LAN Server operators in the ream. The SRV_OP group 96 is used to contro access to the?e aias and server objects in the ream. The COMM_OP group 98 contains the user D5 of a the LAN Server communication operators in the ream. The COMM_OP group 98 is used to contro access to the seria device aiases in the ream. The USERS group 100 contains the user IDs and group IDs of a the users/groups de?ned in the ream. The USERS group 100 is used by the synchronization process to determine which user and group de?nitions to synch to the domain for cient and server access. The USERS group 100 is aso used to scope the user/group objects. Since DCE does not support groups within groups. the USERS group 100 maintains the ist of groups to synchronize. Synchronization of LAN Server resource de?nitions in the ce is tied to reams. The dirsyuc process is associated with a speci?c resource ream and synchronizes a aias and appication objects de?ned in the ream. The domain_sync object 40 (FIG. 2) in the ream name space in CDS is used by the dirsync process to determine which resource objects have been updated in the ream since the ast synch time. The dirsync process removes entries from the domain_sync ist after it synchronizes the objects. The synchronization process aso reies on the USERS group 100 in the ream structure of the registry to synchronize user and group de?nitions. Migration of existing OSF/DCE name space to the nove ce directory and registry of the invention is accompished through a migration utiity modi?ed for the structures of the invention. such as the Migration Utiity for Distributed Computing Environment Appication Enaber for 08/2. TDBS. Vo. 38. March Pages Existing LAN Server domains migrated to the nove CDS structure of this invention wi have their resource de?nitions (aiases and pubic appications) migrated to a resource ream. The administrator migrating the domain wi be prompted for a ream name (the defaut is the existing domain name). and the proper ream objects are created in both the CDS and registry. In addition to creating the aias and appication objects. the migration utiity popuates the specia ream groups with the administrators and operators de?ned in the domain. The USER group 100 (FIG. 3) is popuated with a users/groups in the domain which have been successfuy migrated to ensure that these de?nitions are synchronized for cients and servers. Whie the invention has been described with respect to a preferred embodiment thereof. it wi be understood by those shed in the art that various changes in detai may be made therein without departing form the spirit. scope. and teach ing of the invention. Accordingy. the herein discosed invention is to be imited ony as speci?ed in the foowing caims. What we caim is: 1. A method impemented in a computer for organizing distributed computing environment name space for admin istration of network resources. comprising: creating a ce directory service component in a worksta tion in said distributed computing environment name space having a?xed portion incuding a?rst root and a second root describing ream resources; 5,740, associating a subsystem and a?rst ream directory with said?rst root and resources and a second ream direc tory with said second root; and creating a registry component associated with said ce directory service component having a security and group directory for specifying user identi?cation of a administrators aowed to access said ream resources. 2. The method of caim 1 wherein said step for creating a ce directory service component incudes the step of creat ing a?xed directory structure for the ream resources. 3. The method of caim 1 wherein said step for creating a registry component incudes the step of creating a?xed structure beow said group directory?es directory contain ing a group object within said ream resources. 4. The method of caim 1 wherein said step creating a registry component incudes the step of creating a printers directory containing a printers within said ream resources. 5. The method of caim 3 wherein said step for creating a registry component incudes the step of creating a pubic appications directory containing a appications accessibe by users within said ream resources. 6. An apparatus for organizing distributed computing environment name space for administration of network resources. comprising: means for creating a ce directory service component in a workstation in said distributed computing environ ment name space having a?xed portion incuding a?rst root and a second root describing ream resources; associating a subsystem and a?rst ream directory with said?rst root and resources and a second ream direc tory with said second root; and means for creating a registry component associated with said ce directory service component having a security and group directory for specifying user identi?cation of a administrators aowed to contro said ream resources. 7. The apparatus of caim 6 wherein said means for creating a ce directory service component incudes means for creating a?xed directory structure for said ream resources. 8. The apparatus of caim 6 wherein said means for creating a registry component incudes means for creating a?xed structure beow said group directory containing a group object within said ream resource. 9. The apparatus of caim 6 wherein said means for creating a registry component incudes means for creating a printers directory containing a printers within said ream resource. 10. The apparatus of caim 6 wherein said means for creating a registry component incudes means for creating a pubic appications directory containing a appications accessibe by users within said ream resources. 11. A computer program product having a computer readabe medium having computer program ogic recorded thereon for organizing distributed computing environment name space for administration of network resources. com prising: computer readabe medium for creating a ce directory service component in a workstation in said distributed computing environment name space having a?xed portion incuding describing ream resources; associating a subsystem and a?rst ream directory with said?rst root and resources and a second ream direc tory with said second root; and computer readabe medium for creating a registry com ponent associated with said ce directory service com

8 7 ponent having a security and group directory for speci fying user identi?cation of a administrators aowed to access said ream resources. 12. The computer program product of caim 10 wherein said computer readabe medium means for creating a ce directory service component incudes the step of creating a?xed directory structure for the ream resources. 13. The computer program product of caim 10 wherein said computer readabe medium means for creating a reg istry component incudes the step of creating a?xed struc ture beow said group directory containing a group object within said ream resources The computer program product of caim 10 wherein said computer readabe medium means for creating a reg istry component incudes the step of creating a printers directory containing a printers within said ream resources. 15. The computer program product of caim 10 wherein said computer readabe medium means for creating a reg istry component incudes the step of creating a pubic appications directory containing a appications accessibe 19 by users within said ream resources. * * * * *